One Spark draws mass crowds early, caps first day with opening ceremonies

Bruce.Lipsky@jacksonville.com--04/09/14--Hemming Plaza was packed for the opening night ceremonies for the second One Spark, the world's crowdfunding festival, on Wednesday April 9, 2014 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Florida Times-Union/Bruce Lipsky)

Led by Wayne Wood and UNF professor Jenny Hager Colonel Crackers is carried to the fountain in Hemming Plaza. This years fountain centerpiece for One Spark, Colonel Crackers, an oversized replica of a Goldfish cracker made its way from Dr. Jenny Hager's sculpture workshop at the University of North Florida to the fountain in Hemming Plaza Wednesday morning, April 9, 2014. Crackers replaces last years attraction, a giant rubber duck named Sgt. Quackers and was commissioned by Wayne Wood who was on hand for the launching.

Wayne Wood assembles a large tepee in Hemming Plaza as part of the Pop-Opps project for One Spark project Tuesday, April 8, 2014 in Jacksonville, Florida. Pop-Opps want to put up large visual surprises.

It didn’t take long to get a sense that this year’s One Spark festival would likely be more popular than 2013’s inaugural year. One Spark organizers say 40,000 attended the first day.

Traffic was jammed heading into downtown Jacksonville Wednesday morning a few hours before the 11 a.m. start time of the crowdfunding event.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Joe Sampson, One Spark executive director, said of the rush to the opening day of the event that runs through Sunday.

“We continue to be humbled by the outpouring of support and the incredible response we’ve had from the community and all the people it’s drawn to check out One Spark,” Sampson said.

By noon Wednesday, it was clear the second One Spark was turning into a happening. Crowds flowed into the streets and booths promoting entrepreneurial and artistic concepts were getting visitors sizing up the displays to see if they were worthy of getting votes from the audience to help determine which of the more than 630 projects deserves award money.

By evening, MCs had hyped up crowds for the opening ceremonies.

A buzz was in the air.

“One Spark is you,” said Sampson to a crowd at the opening ceremony. “It is about people of passion who are creative and who refuse to sit on the sidelines and watch this world be shaped by someone else.”

Behind the One Spark festival is that single, well, spark that grew into a full-grown flame, Sampson said.

Throughout the festival, it burned brightly in hundreds of creators.

There was the former corporate employee dreaming of owning a restaurant. The church worship leader hoping to clean up a 100-year-old church.

Near Hemming Plaza, Jason McDonald served salsa and coloring books at his Fresh Jax stand. The start-up, which sells healthy, organic meals, began after McDonald dropped 45 pounds by drastically changing his diet. Fried chicken was out. Quinoa and kale chips were in.

He hopes to open a storefront and yoga studio in Mandarin.

“It’s all about taking off your normal hat and getting on your creative hat,” he said.

Along Laura Street, worship leader Ian Stake watched young musicians jam out to a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” in a 100-year-old church.

That’s the future he sees for the unused Snyder Memorial Building, a former church now owned by the city.

Stake, chief executive director of non-profit Amplify, hopes to lease the church from the city and do full-scale renovations to turn it into a recording studio.

Churches like this were built with beautiful natural acoustics, he said, and a music venue would add to the downtown’s spirit.

His group hopes to eventually raise between $3 million and $5 million.

His wife, Caroline, said the idea is to support young, emerging musicians, and to give the community a beautiful alternative venue for smaller gigs.

She said the idea is simple: “How can we make this cool for Jacksonville?”

Earlier in the day Carri-Lynn Black was helping to answer questions at the Green Action e-Guide booth at the corner of Monroe and Laura streets. She’s one of those creators vying for attention and approval from the audience.

“It’s amazing,” Black said from the booth that featured guides on how to integrate environmentally-friendly materials into daily life. “I’m impressed by all these creators.”

Nearby, Shay Shaffer was taking in the lunchtime crowd. Shaffer was raised in Jacksonville but lives in Mount Dora and was visiting his girlfriend on the First Coast. Shaffer said he heard about One Spark and checked it out.

“I’m digging it,” Shaffer said while standing in the middle of Laura Street, one of the many streets that were shut down for One Spark and its 20-square-block footprint. “It’s cool. It brings a lot more culture than I’m used to seeing here, a lot more diversity.”

Paul Astleford, CEO of Visit Jacksonville, said it’s estimated hotel occupancy anywhere near downtown is running at about 82 percent. Astleford said that’s way up from the normal 62 percent occupancy rate this time of year.

There were a couple kinks on the first day. The Skyway rail service, which is free for visitors during One Spark, was temporarily out of service. The public transit service is considered a key component to the transportation plan for One Spark as it moved an estimated 40,000 people during the event a year ago.

Later, Ignite Media reported that issues with One Spark’s mobile voting app were raising concerns among creators that they may be losing votes from attendees. Organizers were working to get the app fixed, though using the app isn’t the only way festival-goers can vote for projects.

Thursday will feature the first full day of showcasing creators and their projects. The music stage at The Jacksonville Landing officially opens with musicians Thursday. The One Spark After Dark party at the JAXChamber parking lot at Bay and Ocean streets will close Thursday with tunes running from 9 p.m. to midnight.